7 - Ireland, 1688–91

Summary

On 21 March 1688 a new charter was borne into the borough of Galway, in the westerly province of Connacht. Galway, a last redoubt of the catholics during the Confederate War, had surrendered to the Cromwellian forces only in 1652. Thereafter, protestants were intruded into its government and trade, as in all boroughs throughout Ireland. After Charles Il's return in 1660, the protestant monopoly was eroded, especially in places such as Galway where protestants were few. The reinstatement of catholics, first as traders and craft-workers, then as freemen and civic functionaries, gathered momentum after the accession of James VII and II in 1685. The personnel and programme of the government in Ireland changed dramatically. Events in Galway in 1688 were part of a process that exhilarated the catholic inhabitants of Ireland in a way not felt since the heady 1640s. Indeed, optimists hoped that the exclusions and discriminations of the past century would soon be reversed.

Three hundred townspeople prepared to welcome the town clerk returning with the precious document. A detachment of 50 rode to Loughreagh on the border of County Galway, whence it processed back to the borough itself. The charter was placed on a horse, richly caparisoned in crimson and silver. A dozen footboys all in white were followed by six horses led by pages. Four young gentlemen mounted on horses preceded the sergeant of the mace, who was succeeded immediately by the horse carrying the charter. A young gentleman bore the king's sword sheathed in a red velvet scabbard ornamented with silver plates on which were engraved several mottoes.